


Case of Canon

by orphan_account



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Everyone is Dead, M/M, Twisted and Fluffy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-09
Updated: 2016-12-09
Packaged: 2018-09-07 11:39:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8799460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account





	

My Morning Coffee Is Always Bitter And So Are You Dear

  
  


Chapter One, 

I’m Feeling Lovely

  
  


Sunday morning, the sixteenth of August, and he already dreads Monday. Both of them always do. Erwin, with an ever present smile, politely even and infuriatingly bright, never complains. Levi knows better; he’s shared a bed with the man for over ten years. Yes, they’re old men, now. 

 

Levi tries not to dwell on it. 

 

Erwin, with his whitening blonde locks of hair always in place, combed perfectly in a classic look. Erwin, with his forever striking structure; the sharp edges of his face and the sturdy make of his frame filled with toned muscle. Erwin, in his professional suit, and professional disposition. 

 

Levi could to scream. 

 

To think Erwin is his, it’s surreal; how much the perfect man adored him and all his rough, dark and brutal persona. Something about it never seems to stick, like he’s in a perpetual dream; half nightmare, half paradise. But, Erwin has always remained loyal, as does he, and they trust and love one another; even if Levi doesn’t say it much. After so long, a certain level of understanding’s to be met. 

 

So, it’s morning, and they’re still in bed, silently wishing tomorrow won’t come. Erwin’s eyes are closed, giving Levi the impression he hasn’t awaken, but he can’t fool the dark haired man beside him. Still, Levi likes to just lay and admire. He would never grow tired if Erwin; his body, his mind. 

 

The way the morning light filtering through their sheer curtains hit the side of his face, ran over his hair and lit him angelically amazed Levi. Though he wasn’t one for religious attributes, his Erwin was in every sense an angel. He couldn’t get enough of the aged face, no longer glowing with juvenility. Levi thought it suited him, age. He was always more clever than he should have been, and Levi loved it, but now his body was starting to catch up. 

 

Levi guessed he must look pretty ridiculous, getting old, where he was once beautiful. Erwin had always said he had an oddly pretty face, even if Levi never agreed. 

 

_ “Oddly? Oh, well, don’t I feel loved.” Erwin laughed at him, causing the pout to deepen.  _

 

_ “Don’t be like that, baby.” A large, unwrinkled hand came up to ruffle his raven hair, which he had just finished arranging. As his forehead was kissed, Levi could only scoff, tussled and mused, secretly enjoying the attention. “I don’t mean it in a bad way.”  _

 

_ “Then how do you mean it?” Levi asked, legitimately curious, even if sarcasm dripped in his tone. Erwin just shrugged and went back to brushing his teeth. _

 

The sigh that escapes him must break Erwin’s concentration, because his nose scrunches up and his eyes drag open. “Levi, I’m not getting out of bed until that clock says it’s ten-thirty.” Levi’s sigh turns into a huff. 

 

“Yeah right, that’s three hours from now. You’ll get up when I tell you to.” He doesn’t mean for his voice to come out rough and mothering, but Erwin only chuckles and nods. So Levi just shrugs into his pillow, “You have thirty minutes to wake up and get out of bed.” 

 

Erwin rolls over to shove his face into his pillow, grumbling with a smile, “How kind of you.” 

 

With a sharply hummed affirmative, Levi promptly slips from the blankets to round the bed and throw himself over Erwin childishly. “Okay, thirty seconds are up.” The groan that leaves the pillow almost makes Levi laugh. 

 

After a few minutes of tugging and pushing, Erwin finally rises, his hair messy from tossing around and his blue eyes squinting at the light so much Levi can barely see their bright hue. He’s feeling merciful, so he leans over Erwin, his back to the window, and blocks him from the sunrise. “Okay, you big brat, it really is time to get up.” 

 

Looking up, Erwin smiles that blinding smile that never fails to make Levi’s breath catch in his throat. He doesn’t squint, but stares at those pink, smooth lips as you never should look at bright lights. Everything about waking up with him felt so natural. Domestic, as if nothing was broken. Maybe nothing is, right then, but Levi knows it won’t last. Just as Erwin is leaning up, eyes drifting shut as he inches forward in anticipation, Levi steps away. 

 

The moment is gone and Erwin can sense it, so he opens eyes, letting them drag over Levi as he swiftly makes his way to the door. A sigh leaves him as he soon follows, his feet raking the carpet as he shuffles into the hall. Shuddering at the cold wood floor, he steps back into the room, the carpet mercifully soft and slightly warm. He meanders around a while before slipping on his house shoes and walking to the kitchen. 

 

Levi must have headed straight for the bath, because Erwin doesn’t see him again until he’s already halfway through his cup of coffee. 

 

When Levi does walk into the room, Erwin doesn’t know what to do with his hands. 

 

The only thing he has on is a towel and his old dog tags. Even at thirty four, he’s well defined. He’s lithe, yes, but even being slim the muscles rolling over his abdomen and chest, stretching down his arms, make Erwin breathless. The way his veins subtly protrude, as do his hip bones, sharply dipping into his v-line… 

 

“Erwin?” He nearly spills his coffee when he jumps, Levi’s calling of his name permeating his thoughts like a battering ram. He loves that rough and simultaneously velvet-like voice, the undertone just a few octaves higher than most men, but can reach a rich baritone. “What are you spacing out about?” He comes to sit in the chair across the small table. 

 

Erwin can only smile as he tilts his head, answering with a quiet, “You,” so adoringly that Levi’s heart throbs in his chest. He knows he is doomed. If only Erwin could be more subtle about his affections. 

 

Stuttering, nothing but a small, “Oh,” leaves him, the rest of whatever jumbled sentence that danced in his head hanging off his lips dumbly. Erwin chuckles, loud and low in the otherwise silent home, and the sound makes him shiver. 

 

They’re old, yes. Broken, maybe. But, Levi wouldn’t go back and change a single thing. He knows Erwin felt the same. 

 

They go about their morning routine. Levi leaves to get dressed while Erwin makes toast and tea. Erwin’s two slices are always a little more brown than Levi’s golden, lightly buttered toast, because that’s how they like it. Levi never drinks coffee, since it makes his tremors more evident and only succeeds in making him anxious; but Erwin drinks his staggeringly black and bitter. Erwin turned on the news and started on his crumbly toast while Levi was finishing fixing his hair after thoroughly drying. Sitting at the breakfast table, he glances at his watch and sees he’s on time. Nine o’clock. 

 

“I have to meet Hanji after work about something. She didn’t tell me what, just said it was important.” Erwin looks up, poised to take a bite, but frozen. Levi never went out with Hanji, saying she was annoying and gave him headaches. He personally enjoyed the brunette’s company, but he agreed she did have tendency to get… over excited. 

 

“And… She didn’t say anything about why?” Levi just shakes his head, eyes trained on the television set as the static-muffled reporter spouted some domestic violence case details like it was the end of the world. Sighing, Erwin forces himself to think positively, like usual. Levi would be going out for once. He was willingly going into society to converse with what he could only refer to as a friend. This is a good thing, so he smiles. “I think it’s good that you’re going out.” Levi’s silence and unchanging expression of boredom should have raised a flag in the blonde’s head, but that was what he always looked like outside their bedroom. 

 

He’d just smile for the both of them. 

 

And so, Levi left with the motorcycle keys spinning on his index finger, waving over his shoulder with the other hand. Erwin stayed at the table for a few minutes, listening to the news before he got tired of it, powering off the television to walk to the living room and sit on the couch instead. It was more comfortable, and his book laid on the armrest, face down to keep his page from yesterday evening. 

 

From nine-thirty to six, he is left to his own devices as Levi mundanely files papers, takes calls, and makes coffees. The job suited his needs: indoors, firm routine, and mind numbingly dull. Erwin knew why Levi needed it that way, but he still couldn’t help but wonder, every now and then, if even Levi got sick of it. 

 

When six-thirty rolled around, Erwin found himself waiting at the door before realizing Levi wouldn’t be home for another few hours. Knowing Hanji, she didn’t have a plan on how long their evening out would be, even if it was important, and would probably ramble on like she can’t help doing when she gets passionate. Levi would probably get home annoyed, and take his second shower, then mumble about what happened on their way to bed. 

 

He heaves a sigh, the hundredth of the day, and sinks back into the couch. “Oh, wait. I could clean.” Levi liked things to be spotless, and if Erwin knew he would get home in a foul mood, he could try and give him a much needed and deserved pick me up. He couldn’t find much that could be considered dirty, even by Levi’s standards. 

 

He didn’t expect Levi to come home well after eight o’clock, Hanji hanging on his shoulders and drooling as she snored. The scowl on his face was astounding. 

 

He blinks hard once, twice before he had the brainpower to say, “Looks like you had fun.” It’s more directed towards the unconscious woman, but Levi huffs, nodding despite his deeply frightening sneer. 

 

“Take her, she’s disgusting.” With a chuckle, Erwin complies, carrying the heap to the couch and moves his book to the coffee table to make more room for her head. She does smell pretty badly. Levi marches to the bathroom and Erwin hears the water start only moments later. 

 

When Levi comes out of the bathroom, the short man is already dressed and tucking his dog tags under his collar. "Is she still out?" Erwin nods at him, smiling as he walks over, wrapping his arms around Levi's waist to pull him into a hug. "What is it?" The warm body doesn't move into or away from the embrace. He just shakes his head, tightening his hold before pulling away a bit. When he looks down he barely has time to react when Levi's on his toes, kissing him. It's short, sweet, and says more than mere words ever could. Hand splay over his chest, tilting his head to move more deeply against his Levi, but he gets a gentle shove.

"I'm tired."

They go to bed; Erwin smiling, Levi straight faced but sated, and Hanji, snoring on their couch.

 

* * * 

 

Saturday, August fifteenth, and Levi’s still asleep, for once. He had a hard day, yesterday, and Erwin smiles, softly playing with his hair. 

 

Levi’s right arm is bent just above his head, his hand relaxed; the other over his stomach, clutching the sheets almost desperately. His brow knitted together, eyes tightly shut. Shutting out the world. Shutting out the past. Shutting out whatever he feels, in fear of the emotion turning to pain, like it always has. He’s been conditioned, by himself, to be this way. 

 

Erwin, at least, has gotten him to bare his heart in their little world. This safe place where they lay, where their hearts lay. This is where they stay; and throughout the day, they wait to get back in bed and bare them once more. 

 

He’s made this little world for Levi, and Levi made it for him. 

 

But now it’s past seven-thirty, and Levi will be upset if he isn’t out of bed in the next five minutes. He could be mischievous, and let the poor, sleep deprived man sleep past his self-designated “get out of bed, you lazy, good for nothing-” time. 

 

But that would just end badly, for both parties. So he lightly touches Levi’s shoulder, giving him a shake. He doesn’t move, and Erwin won’t try to get him up again. Levi has alway been a light sleeper, and if something like that doesn’t wake him, then he’s dead to the world, and necessarily so. 

 

It’s foggy outside, and the sunlight drifting through their window is muted and shifts uneasily, as does the man it lands so complimenting on. Erwin can only watch as Levi fidgets under the morning; his raven hair fanned out around him from tossing his head around, evading transparent things which ricochet off his skull, making his brain jolt in sleep with anxiety, forming terror. It’s a dance Erwin’s seen many times, making his heart clench with the need to help his lover. Nothing he does seems to ease the pain, however, and it tears him up. 

 

“I’m sorry,” he whispers, desperate to be believed and forgiven for being to useless. He doesn’t expect Levi to answer, much less with the words that erupt so aggressively with such passion and desperation as he. 

 

“Shut up and kiss me.” 

 

Erwin’s comprehension can’t keep up with his actions. He’s leaning over Levi, forearms resting on either side of his head, staring into those deep, disturbed, and deserving grey-blue eyes that have him in messy knots. So unlike how they keep things in their little mundane abode, and it makes his stomach flip as he leans down. 

 

The impact is more a fall then they realize, sending them reeling. Hands clutch and fumble for purchase on shoulders, hips, the backs of necks and tangle in hair. Finally their fingers entwine and everything goes still. 

 

Bright blue and pale grey clash in a beautiful moment of peace, so calm and loving. Nothing is said, nothing needs to be, and it’s slow now as they both move toward each other. Eyelids fall a bit as hot breath whispers against skin, lips meeting again, softly. They know so surely, in these moments of adoring, they are healing. 

 

The morning drags on with them laying on their sides, wrapped up, just passing the time. A dumb game of coy is started. Almost touching, then suddenly just out of reach as Levi stands, walking to the closet to change out of his pajamas and into casual day clothes before Erwin. 

 

His gaze is burning, and Levi wonders how he stands it. 

 

Back to the bed, he sits on the edge of Erwin’s side, bringing a hand up to caress his cheek, sliding his fingertips past his hairline and down his morning stubble to tilt his chin back. 

 

“Good morning.” With a smile, Erwin hums, “Goo’morning,” back. 

 

Levi plays with Erwin’ hair a while before the blonde’s sitting up, placing a hand tenderly on his hip. “You don’t have work today.” He meant it as a question, but can’t bring himself to say it that way. Luckily, Levi only nods, not negating the fact that, yes, it is his day off and he shouldn’t be at work. It makes Erwin’s Saturday. Levi rarely decides to actually take his days off. “Can I make you something special for breakfast?” Another nod and Erwin is beaming, hopping out of bed and forgetting his slippers. 

 

Levi actually cracks a smile at his large idiot. “Someday you’re going to fall on your face, and I’m gonna laugh.” Standing, he calmly makes his way to the kitchen. 

 

“Ah-ah! No peeking. It’s a surprise.” Erwin shoos him away from the kitchen archway while tying on a plain apron. Levi insists they be used while cooking or baking anything. 

 

“Okay.” He does like to be spoiled by Erwin, and enjoys humouring the man. Even if he’ll be able to smell whatever he makes. 

 

So Levi goes to wait on the couch, and catches a glance at the cover of Erwin’s book. He’s surprised he still has so much left, given the amount of time he’s here alone to read. Looking around, he spots the laptop, barely used by either of them, on the bookshelf to the right corner of the living room. Glancing over his shoulder, through the archway, he can see Erwin’s back, how he sways to nothing in particular while stirring something. He gets up to pull the laptop onto the coffee table, careful not to drag it and make skid-marks on the glass. 

 

He signs into his side and skips over his unread emails. There are a lot, but he only pays attention to the recent ones, which are still mostly just spam that never gets filtered into the spam folder, for reasons unknown to Levi. What’s the point of having it if nothing gets put in there, he thinks. How does it even know which mail is spam and which isn’t? Maybe that’s why it doesn’t work; because it doesn’t. 

 

With a shrug, he moves to close the tab, but a name catches his attention. Hanji. 

 

Cursing the lord, he hesitates to open it. But it’s marked important, and you never know if it’s actually important, with Hanji. He clicks on it, anyway, rather being safe than sorry. The beginning of the long email is neat, grammatically correct and coherent. In pretty vague terms, it says there’s an important matter she must speak with him about. 

 

Then that insane woman has to ruin it and puts in all caps- I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE YOU BETTER SHOW UP AT THE PIZZA PLACE AFTER WORK TOMORROW AND DON”T BE LATE MISTER. With a sigh, Levi deletes the message. 

 

“Like I’d ever hang around after work at that grease hole with you.” 

 

Erwin finishes breakfast in under half an hour, calling Levi into the dining room calmly, but with clear excitement. When he walks into the room, Erwin gives him a side hug. His large hand drifts to take hold of Levi's elbow and guide him romantically to the neatly laid out table setting. 

 

"It smells amazing." Standing on his toes, he reaches to peck him on the cheek, smiling against his slightly rough skin. "Where'd you learn to cook like this?" Last time Levi had checked, Erwin could only make toast and macaroni. 

 

Erwin was pleased, to say the least, with Levi’s reaction. He smiles widely and sits Levi at his end of the table, scooting his chair in. Whispering in his ear, “Magicians never tell their secrets,” Erwin reaches over Levi’s shoulder to pull closer a plate of stacked pancakes with a slice of butter and a light drizzle of sweet, sticky syrup that Levi will never admit that he likes. 

 

Humming appraisingly, Levi starts in as Erwin takes his seat to the left, and underneath the table, though they’re alone, their hands hesitantly touch. Slowly, as if it’s not quite right, but it could never be wrong, their hands entangle. 

 

Thirty minutes later, they go about their morning routine. Levi leaves the room to get dressed while Erwin makes another cup of tea. Levi never drinks coffee, since it makes his tremors more evident and only succeeds in making him anxious; but Erwin drinks his staggeringly black and bitter. Erwin turns on the news as Levi is just finishing fixing his hair. Sitting at the breakfast table, he glances at his watch and sees he’s on time. Nine o’clock. He doesn’t ask about the toast he never eats, which is usually sitting in front of him. 

 

With a fleeting kiss on Erwin’s cheek, he’s left alone again. He knows not to be disappointed. 

 

He reads; Levi sorts. He reads some more; Levi answers calls which aren’t his. He reads until his eyes hurt and he’s so sadly beyond bored; Levi is jogging across the street with a bored expression to bring coffee to people who should work below him, should be getting him coffee, but he doesn’t drink the stuff. Erwin picks up the phone and doesn’t call, while Levi answers another. Hours go by and he’s just sitting on the couch, staring at the ceiling in silent wonder, asking himself how Levi can safely reach up there to clean, what with how short he is. Levi is sorting more folder, taking more calls, getting more coffee. 

 

When six thirty rolls around and the door opens, Erwin looks dead and Levi wants a shower, but they just stare at each other. 

 

“You’re home.” 

 

“I’m home.” And that’s the bell. 

 

It’s like an invisible flag that drops, signalling them to speed to each other in a clash of limbs and mouths. It’s routine, it happens everyday, but they never get tired of it. It’s as if after hours of not seeing each other, not hearing each other, or feeling each other’s warmth, they’re starving. Levi to gets his arms around Erwin’s aching neck and hauls himself up to cling, non-sensually wrapping his legs around the thick waist of his lover. 

 

Erwin holds him against his chest, walking them to the couch and sits him down, leaning over the smaller body with knees on either side. 

 

Love is a strange thing, he knows, to make a man so needy for another. To make a man with his level of control unravel at the mere sight of this person, turning him into something embodying carnality. To Erwin’s eyes, Levi is so much more than a person, now. He’s ethereal. Something cherished, but so strong and lasting, and it’s hard to say who has who in their palm. Erwin will say Levi has him, Levi will oppose it. 

 

He knows Levi doesn’t think he’s worthy, which adds to the unreal feeling, but Erwin couldn’t think of a single person more beautifully hardy. His scars, his needs, his hard-sculpted frame, slim as he is, the way he manages to be so perfect in his flaws, and how he doesn’t realize the severity of his wonderfully suffocating grip on Erwin’s heart. 

 

He think’s he could die. 

 

Without knowing, Levi could crush him; has the power to kill him with one wrong twist of his hand. That power, to unman such a large personality, is all the more alluring. 

 

Someday, maybe Erwin will fall asleep, Levi beside him, thinking the opposite is true. That he does control the smaller in ways that are just as frighteningly amazing. Maybe he’ll believe he can, as Levi says, turn him inside out with his eyes. Oh, does he try. 

 

He tries. 

 

* * *

 

Friday morning, August fourteenth, and Levi doesn’t have the heart to get out of bed early, like he promised himself. Erwin had woken beside him a few minutes ago, for the twentieth time that night between naps, but neither made a move to get up. They laid there, silently agreeing to ignore the cold sweat that had accompanied Levi’s night terror. 

 

Almost all night, Erwin had been awake beside Levi, watching him toss and turn uselessly. He felt that way, at least. 

 

They didn’t say anything as Levi’s chest continued to heave. They didn’t look at each other, either. In the suffered light, the two mourned their touches and careless whispers and playful toying, their lively love. It was gone that morning. 

 

Erwin knew Levi loved him, but the way he sprung from the bed at exactly seven-thirty, not giving himself the usual five minutes to slowly work his way to the floor after a short kiss and a sweet ‘ _ good morning _ ’, made him jump with a pitiful look in his eye. He knew Levi was hurting, but why did he never turn to him for help? Why did he always hide in the bathroom to tear at his skin and wash himself from the outside in, in the hopes he’ll scrub away the roughness of time. 

 

He could hear Levi’s retching and quiet sobs as he silently shuffled to make toast Levi never ate. 

 

* * * 

 

They hadn’t spoken all day. Levi left the house without a word, without a kiss. Not even a glance was spared. Erwin was stuck at home to pretend everything was fine. Or maybe he won’t? Maybe he’ll finally confront Levi about getting some actual help. But, it was all speculation. 

 

Some time around seven o’clock, while Erwin is fretting over how clean the kitchen was, Levi slams the door shut behind himself. They both jump, but Levi has his head down. Erwin never sees the look of guilt painted on his face, even if he could feel it. 

 

“Levi? Where have you been, you’re la-” Erwin froze. 

 

Gripped between tense hands, Levi holds a bloodied blade. Their eyes don’t meet, Levi’s too focused on the metal he clutches, the edge of the handle pressed to the middle of his stomach. He’s clean, Erwin notices, no blood on his hands or clothes. It means nothing, Erwin has to remember, because Levi’s always been good at keeping things neat… 

 

“... Levi? What is that?” He asks lightly, like asking a child to see the picture they drew. Not at all like that picture was filled in with red. “Can I have it, please?” He avoids the pet name on his lips, something that appropriately slips in the bedroom in a comforted gesture; this is not the time for such 

 

He doesn’t move, but Erwin didn’t expect him to. With the question hanging in the air, he inches forward, both hands up for Levi to see. 

 

“Stay back.” He stops on command. 

 

“Alright… Alright, I’m staying right here. Will you come to me, then?” For a long moment, it seems like he won’t, but eventually Levi moves. He tucks himself into Erwin’s chest, the knife dangling from his loose fist to the side. With a shuddering breath, he speaks softly. “Good… Thank you. Now, you won’t get in trouble, but I need you to answer honestly.” There’s a pause where it feels like not even a breath is shared in the close embrace, but Levi shifts uneasily. Erwin inhales first. “Levi… Did someone hurt you?” 

 

It’s all too relieving when he shakes his head. 

 

“Did you hurt someone?” Another shake of raven hair across his collar. His sigh is rattling, and Levi jumps against him. “Sorry… What happened? Can you tell me?” There’s  hesitation, but he nods. 

 

When his thin lips part, it’s almost like the whisper that sounds into his shoulder, the ignored clatter of a knife hitting the floor, the hands that ghost his hips when Levi says, “The case…” 

 

Erwin shivers. He knows what Levi is talking about, but he didn’t think it was possible for Levi to  _ know _ about that. He slowly pulls away. 

 

“Levi, you need to take a shower and go to sleep.” His smile is sweet, and unrecognisable for what it is. Levi obeys, albeit cautiously, but Erwin isn’t that worried he knows why. “I’ll be waiting for you in bed.” Kissing his forehead, he lets Levi go. 

 

He never goes to the bedroom. 

 

While the shower is running, Erwin sneaks out the front door. He knows where the leather case is hidden, and hopes Levi didn’t move it. He doesn’t take Levi’s motorcycle, he’ll need it tomorrow morning. He walks down the street with purpose, footfalls swift and precise, as if practised. They  _ are _ practised, but not for that day, and something about it nags in the back of his mind. 

 

When he arrives at the building, it’s already too late for this day’s Levi. He may have gotten out of the shower and realized where Erwin had gone, but he’s already here. Even with the motorcycle, Levi couldn’t beat him to the basement of the old, dilapidated home. Their home. 

 

He doesn’t need to dig his way through rubble to reach the door, Levi’s already cleared his path. Slowly, as if he doesn’t quite want to, he opens the door, walks down the creaking steps, and stands in the middle of the dank room. 

 

A whisper of, “I’m home,” bounces eerily off the concrete walls. 

 

Erwin strides carefully to the corner, where a short desk is. It almost looks like it was made for a child. Opening the bottom-right drawer, he pulls out the soft, pliant leather case. The loose locks make quiet, echoing sounds against their metal latch. He fiddles with them a moment, as if he doesn’t want to open it. 

 

But he does- 

 

* * *

 

Sunday morning, the sixteenth of August, and they both dread Monday. 

 

_ No… _

 

So, it’s morning, and they’re still in bed, silently wishing tomorrow wouldn’t come. Erwin’s eyes are closed, giving Levi the impression he hasn’t awaken, but he can’t fool the dark haired man beside him. Still, Levi likes to just lay and admire. He would never grow tired if Erwin; his body, his mind. 

 

_ This isn’t right…  _

 

The sigh that escapes Levi must break Erwin’s concentration, because his nose scrunches up and his eyes drag open. “Levi, I’m not getting out of bed until that clock says it’s ten-thirty.” Levi’s sigh turns into a huff. 

 

_ No, I didn’t say that. I didn’t say anything.  _

 

“Yeah, right. That’s three hours from now. You’ll get up when I tell you to.” Levi doesn’t mean for his voice to come out rough and mothering, and Erwin chuckles, knowing, and nods. So, Levi just shrugs into his pillow, “You have thirty minutes to wake up and get out of bed.” 

 

Erwin realizes what’s happening. Levi has control of the case. He’s trapped him in this day, which means Levi is aware, but forced into repeating August sixteenth with him. Erwin rolls over to shove his face into his pillow, grumbling against his will with a smile, “How kind of you.” It sounds oddly wistful. 

 

Sure he had relived the past before, but only by his own decision. Reliving this under Levi’s hand is an odd experience. Blinking, he turns to look at Levi, who isn’t jumping onto him and saying, “ _ Okay, thirty seconds are up _ .” His eyes widen. 

 

Levi stares at him somberly, dulled eyes boring into his forcedly brightened ones. The emotion behind the glazed surface is hurt, but numbing, and Erwin understands well. Levi has a knife. 

 

“Why…” It hadn’t occurred to him that a single word could hold so much pain. It isn’t a question. 

 

“Because, it was cruel of me to lock you up here.” 

 

When Levi flinches and turns his back, the white button up glistens red in the soft morning light. 

 

“Because I had no right to keep you. Because you needed to be free. You don’t belong here. You belong in the real world.” 

 

“Erwin.” Levi’s eyes are wide, staring off past the wall. 

 

“I know.” 

 

“I’m dead.” 

 

It stings them both, because Erwin winces at the same time as Levi. The revelation is anything but, and they feel it. Feel the long known, long repressed agony of loss. 

 

“Can I have that?” The knife is past slowly to him and he just holds it. Looking up at Levi, he passes it back. Taking it just as reluctantly, Levi slips onto the bed before Erwin, sitting on his knees. When he hears the soft sniff of nearing tears, he shushes Levi softly. “It’s okay, love. Please.” He leans forward. 

  
The kiss shared is bittersweet as everything. 


End file.
